Some women, especially women who have given birth to one or more children and/or older women, can experience incidences of involuntary urine loss due to stress urinary incontinence or combined stress and urge incontinence. For example, a sneeze or cough can increase the intra-abdominal pressure impinging on a person's bladder and cause the involuntary release of urine. The frequency and severity of such urine loss can increase as the muscles and tissues near the urethro-vaginal myofascial area grow weaker. It has also been recognized that the urinary sphincter muscle, which is located at the upper end of the urethra adjacent to the bladder, works well at sealing off the passing of urine from the bladder to the urethra when it has a round or circular cross-sectional configuration. However, when this passageway becomes distorted into a cross-sectional configuration having more of an elliptical or oval appearance, the sphincter muscle cannot close properly and the tendency for involuntary urine loss increases.
As the world's female population ages, though certainly not limited to women of age, there is an ever increasing need for a non-surgical procedure to reduce the involuntary urine loss commonly associated with “stress urinary incontinence.” Today, there are a number of products available for this purpose. Essentially all of these products can only be purchased with a prescription and they typically require physical insertion and/or adjustment by a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner in order to perform correctly. In addition, most available urinary incontinence devices must be thoroughly cleansed and re-used, as opposed to being a one-time use disposable product.
Incontinent women who do not wish to use the current urinary incontinence devices attempt to prevent leakage onto garments by wearing absorbent pads or liners every day. However, this can be undesirable for many women. In addition, women who prefer to wear tampons for menstruation desire a non-pad product for managing their urine leakage needs and would find such a solution very attractive. Thus, there is a need for a disposable urinary incontinent device that extends beyond traditional solutions to provide for women's needs through all lifestages. In addition, the device would desirably be relatively low cost and could be purchased without a prescription. There is also a need for a urinary incontinence device which is less complicated than current devices and therefore more user friendly, and can be managed by the consumer without the intervention of a medical practitioner. Furthermore, there is a need for a urinary incontinence device which is easy for women to insert into and remove from their bodies, more comfortable to wear and provide psychological and realistic assurance that it is capable of properly performing over an extended period of time.